Bond program manager says company was expected to socialize with officials

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The first time construction contractor Jaime Ortiz got a call from then-Sweetwater school board member Gregory Sandoval, Ortiz was in Los Angeles, he told a grand jury.

Sandoval wanted to meet and mentioned there was a luau at a Pacific Beach hotel later that evening. And he wanted Ortiz to pay.

Ortiz checked the time and saw the luau started in two hours.

So he booked a flight to San Diego and met up with Sandoval at the hotel, where the trustee and project manager dined with their wives and then shared after-dinner cigars.

“It was ridiculous,” Ortiz testified. “I’ve never flown from L.A. to San Diego.”

According to grand jury testimony released this week by the San Diego Superior Court, Ortiz bought many meals and tickets for officials from the Sweetwater Union High School District. There were sporting events, foundation fund-raisers, campaign donation requests and, always, the dinners.

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The secret testimony took place in November and December, leading to the indictment of 15 officials and contractors on bribery, extortion, perjury and other charges. The defendants have pleaded not guilty and objected to release of the transcripts because the proceeding did not allow for cross examination or rebuttal of witnesses.

Ortiz was given limited protection from prosecution under a plea deal involving his boss, SGI Construction Management owner Rene Flores, who pleaded no contest a year ago to one misdemeanor. The defendants face more than 200 charges, including many felonies.

Sandoval and former Superintendent Jesus Gandara, who are among 15 educators and contractors facing charges in a sweeping corruption probe, even suggested Ortiz hire friends and business associates of the Sweetwater leaders, Ortiz testified.

Ortiz said Sweetwater leaders made it clear they expected his firm to pick up the tab for all sorts of meetings and events.

“That’s just the way it was and it was at their request the majority of the time,” Ortiz told the grand jury.

The project manager described a culture at Sweetwater unlike any other district with which he had worked.

In one exchange with prosecutors, Ortiz went down a list of trustees to testify about their practice for requesting freebies.

Board member Jim Cartmill was more infrequent; his colleague, Arlie Ricasa, “was sporadic but it did happen,” Ortiz said.

Trustee Pearl Quinones: “That’s the one ... that went up and down,” he said. “Certain times it was pretty intense. Other times we got the cold shoulder.”

Gandara and Sandoval were “constant” in their demands, the transcript shows.

"It was just perpetual," Ortiz testified.

One day in April 2007, he told jurors, Gandara suggested his company draft some talking points Gandara might use to explain his recommending SGI for the construction-mannagement contract.

When it came to entertainment, Sandoval would “send me the information where I could buy the tickets,” Ortiz also testified, adding that they "had to be good tickets."

Ortiz also said his company gave generously to officials' pet causes, such as the Mariachi Scholarship Foundation, purchasing two $15,000 tables at fundraising events. He said the company gave the money so the school officials "could puff their chest out and say they raised X amount of money."

The district attorney is building a case that officials took the meals and other considerations in exchange for granting multimillion dollar contracts using voter-approved construction bonds. Ortiz managed the $644 million Proposition O program under a contract Sweetwater granted to his firm.

According to Ortiz, then-Trustee Jaime Mercado was the only elected Sweetwater official who never accepted gifts or meals.